If you're in the US then you'll be able to pick up the 4G LTE version of the Nokia Lumia 900, but for those outside of the states you'll more than likely have to settle for the 3G version.

We had no problem connecting to networks, although we didn't hit anywhere near that (4G LTE) maximum, but we did hit a respectable 7.05Mbps download (upload speeds were sadly under 1Mbps), which is comparable to what we've seen on the iPhone 4S.

The Lumia 900 also packs Wi-Fi b/g/n, which we found to pick up the majority of wireless networks and provide a strong link once connected.

Perhaps the weakest link on the Lumia 900 – and Windows Phone in general – is the choice of a mobile version of Internet Explorer 9 for its browser. Render speeds were noticeably slower with IE9, and fonts looked downright chunky when finished.

IE9 also brought poor results in our speed tests, clocking 6962.5ms on the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark (compared to our iPhone 4S at a speedy 2241.4ms) and 137 on the Peacekeeper universal browser test, well below either the Samsung Galaxy S2 (255) or iPhone 4S (314).

Clearly, Microsoft has a way to go before the browser is up to snuff on Windows Phone, but a few third-party contenders are trying to get discovered in the Marketplace in the meantime.

IE9 includes a setting for selecting mobile or desktop websites by default, but the browser frequently seemed confused as to which one it should display.

Unlike its desktop big brother, IE9 for Windows Phone features the absolute minimum bare essentials when it comes to settings, and like early versions of Android, suffers from no way to sync desktop bookmarks.

We were able to mostly get around the bookmarks limitation thanks to Xmarks, a free app available in the Marketplace to Premium users who pay $12 (around £8) per year for the service.

Xmarks allowed us access to all of our synced bookmarks from desktop Safari, Chrome and Firefox (which are get synced to iOS via iCloud) as well as open tabs.

Not a perfect solution, but we were happy to have it at all.

To no one's surprise, Adobe Flash is missing in action from the Windows Phone 7 platform – but fear not, Flash fans, the $4.99 (£3.99) FlashVideo for WP7 app promises to right that wrong, should you be so inclined.

Every day in every city around the world, people are pursuing their own adventures, big or small. Explore the world around you with amazing camera technology, exclusive Live Tile apps and unique design features. This is Lumia.